Rachel Stewart reviews the final part of David Hare's Worricker trilogy,
Salting the Battlefield, but finds it more like light entertainment than
hard-hitting drama

David Hare’s intermittently satisfying BBC spy trilogyhas shown us disillusioned MI5 agent Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) discovering evidence of the British government's knowledge of torture by the intelligence services (Page Eight), followed by his encounter with a group of dodgy American businessmen in a tropical tax haven (Turks & Caicos). In last night’s final instalment,Salting the Battlefield(BBC Two), it was all aboard the Deutsche Bahn as Worricker and fellow ex-agent Margot Tyrrell (Helena Bonham Carter) tried to give his boss the slip in Germany, with the trail of subterfuge they were involved in leading right back to Downing Street.

While Turks & Caicos benefited from a dose of Hollywood wow-factor, courtesy of Winona Ryder and Christopher Walken, Salting the Battlefield’s key ingredient was more airtime for Ralph Fiennes as the cold and calculating British prime minister Alec Beasley. A lingering close-up as he let off steam on the rowing machine – slight changes in expression betraying fleeting amusement or surging anger while his assistant read the morning headlines aloud – was an early reminder of just how watchable an actor he is.

Rather disappointingly, Nighy failed to make an impact as Worricker, whose complicated personality (neglectful father, wounded ex-lover, accidental womaniser, principled spy) came across as, ultimately, very bland. Bonham Carter was unable to add any oomph to the plot either, as her character was never developed beyond that of the detached love interest, resigned to the fact that Worricker’s job will always come first.

The jazz soundtrack, reminiscent of a Thirties whodunit, proved a little corny at times – Pink Panther-style music crescendoed in the background as Worricker and Tyrrell scuttled along a subterranean passage, conspicuous sunglasses in place, evading another spy in Heidelberg.

Although the urgency required for an espionage drama was not always apparent, the twisting of the plot communicated Hare’s message that we never really know who is running the show. Worricker tried to play the Prime Minister, who in turn played him, and all the while acting head of MI5, Jill Tankard (Judy Davis), was apparently playing everyone. I’m not sure who exactly had won by the end of it, but it certainly wasn’t the great British electorate.

The film raised questions about the accountability of government and the intelligence services, but a fundamental lack of credibility left Hare’s trilogy confined to the category of light entertainment rather than hard-hitting drama.